3.5/5

Review by John P. Harvey.

Filmed in Iceland, the U.K., and Japan, Touch follows two timelines.  In 1969, a young Kristófer (Pálmi Kormákur), a London School of Economics student from Iceland disillusioned with his university’s politics, meets a young Miko (Kōki), also studying; and, obtaining a menial job working in the Japanese restaurant owned and run by her father, Takahashi (Masahiro Motoki), falls in love with her.  Both gentle souls, they approach their relationship with care.

But one day, Kristófer arrives at work to find that Miko’s father has closed the restaurant and left London with Miko for parts unknown, following which Kristófer returns to Iceland and an eventual career as a restaurateur.

In the other timeline, in early 2020, lockdowns imminent, and time not on his side, a now 72-year-old, widowed Kristófer (Egill Ólafsson) is compelled to find Miko, and, closing his restaurant, leaves Iceland to pick up her trail from 1969 in London.

Swapping back and forth almost seamlessly between the two timelines, Touch offers early clues to the reasons for Miko’s disappearance, but the film focuses less on the intellectual mystery than on what the relationship meant to the two young lovers, until Miko herself (Yôko Narahashi) is in a position to explain to Kristófer the cause of its sudden severance.

A lovely film, Touch depicts a relationship that builds steadily and believably into something precious to both Miko and Kristófer.  Its importance and the lifelong grief that its loss has caused Kristófer appears remarkably clearly in the face that actor Egill Ólafsson brings to the role.  But the film also offers insight into the consequences of profound world events in shaping decisions affecting entire lives.

The film could have cut half a dozen scenes without compromising the plot.  It is nonetheless a rewarding film to watch, with quietly assured performances all round.

Screening at Palace cinemas.